Location good sign for John Lackey

John TomaseMonday, March 11, 2013

Credit: Christopher Evans

John Lackey

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. — The difference between John Lackey pre- and post-surgery needn’t always be presented as an abstraction. There are very tangible ways in which Lackey feels like a new pitcher, and one of them was on display yesterday against the Tampa Bay Rays.

On a number of occasions, Lackey spotted his fastball over the inside corner to left-handed hitters and over the outside corner to right-handed ones.

That may not sound like a huge deal, but for a pitcher like Lackey, it’s significant. Since he’s never going to blow anyone away, he needs to be able to keep hitters honest. A fastball that only gets halfway to the inside corner isn’t so much a fastball as a meatball, but one that gets all the way there might as well be a bowling ball.

“I got extension in to left-handers and that’s a big point,” Lackey said yesterday after throwing 32⁄3 innings of two-run ball against the Rays. “That means I’m getting out front and getting my extension that sometimes was difficult. That’s definitely a good sign.”

Lackey explained what things felt like pre-surgery.

“In to lefties and away to righties was a little tougher, because that extension point is where I felt the twinge,” Lackey said. “That’s definitely nice to be able to do that without pain, to be able to get extended and get to that side of the plate. Before, my arm didn’t go all the way straight.”

Red Sox fans should understand what Lackey is and isn’t. Even fully healthy with the ulnar collateral ligament of a catapult, Lackey is never going to blow anyone away. What he will do is work both sides of the plate at 92-93 mph with an above-average curveball and a changeup that induced some bad swings against left-handers yesterday. He’ll spot what he called “my cutter/slider thing,” and he’ll keep hitters off balance. He’ll also take the ball every five days and compete.

And at the end of the season, if he has 15 wins and an ERA somewhere around 4.00, that will mean he has kept the Red Sox in more games than not, and after all the inconsistent starting pitching they’ve endured since 2011, that’s the kind of production the Red Sox will take.

Veteran catcher David Ross, who caught some of the best in the business for the Atlanta Braves, liked what he saw from Lackey, particularly his ability to get inside on lefties.

“Once they see a ball run in on them, you can bring the four-seamer or two-seamer back in there and it goes the other way,” Ross said. “It gives them something else to think about it. For me — I think for him, too — the health issue is over.

“I was definitely pleased. His tempo was good, his command was good, he was aggressive. Here’s my stuff, hit it.”

To illustrate the point, Ross highlighted a bases-loaded at-bat against Rays slugger Evan Longoria with one out in the third and Lackey in his only jam. Lackey pounded Longoria inside with a pitch that could’ve ended in a grand slam. It instead yielded a lazy sacrifice fly to medium center field.

“When you go in on a guy like that in that situation, even though it’s spring training, you’re sending a message,” Ross said. “It’s like he feels healthy. I called it, he went right to it without a shake, and he did a good job.”